Secret Garden

Just an update to announce that SG posts on Vox Samurai Fiction review, the D artist profile, and Samupan- samurai rock article have all been re-written/revised/updated on SG at wordpress. New images and videos added. :-] If you liked 'em here...come check them out. :-)

...(blatant self-advertising rocks >_<)

Just wanted to let everyone know that the questionnaire on Gackt.com ended yesterday.... Thanks to anyone who put in their vote to bring him overseas and set up a fanclub for those of us currently residing outside of Japan!

Gackt.com posted a link to an “overseas fans questionnaire” form at the beginning of April. The questionnaire asks a few simple questions concerning Gackt’s considering making an appearance “overseas”.

In a nutshell, the questions concern topics such as what do you like about Gackt? and what would you like Gackt to do if he came to your country?

The questionnaire closes on April 30th 2009– there are only 4 days left, but if you are a fan of Gackt and have a free moment to answer the questions, please visit www.gackt.com and click on the “Dears Overseas Fans Questionnaire” link at the bottom of the page. The more people who fill out the form, the more chance we have of bringing him overseas!

I just got back from Kyoto a week ago. Yes, it was spectacular, thanks.
No travel-blog on the way yet, but the idea is filed away somewhere in
my brain for a more focused and collected time (if they exist). However,
Secret Garden is going to see some major changes. Or has seem them.
I decided that Vox was just about as much as I could handle before therapy
kicked in, so this week we're seeing the debut of Secret Garden at wordpress.com.
The reaction I get is "been there, done that" about wordpress, but honestly,
I don't see why they're complaining. Wordpress has a much more sophisticated
and independently-controlled set-up with a lot more options (can anyone say
'draft save'?). I tried E Blogger and couldn't imagine having exactly the same
theme as the rest of the world (one decent one out of 5. Not many options.)
  The one thing I do appreciate about Vox, though, is the neighborhood set-up.
And of course, I have my roots here. On that note,Secret Garden will remain open
and, I imagine, active on Vox. Probably a lot of the posts here on Vox will appear,
remastered so to speak, on wordpress eventually.
  I hope you'll check out my new spot! Thanks for reading Secret Garden-- and I'll get back
to reviews soon! (I bought excessive quantities of CDs in Japan, so there's material
just waiting for inspiration to strike and splice and merge and make.)

Gacktpause

Yes! It is now Samurai Week on Secret Garden!

Samurai_fiction

Yes indeed, in honor of my coming sojourn to
the sacred island itself, I will theme the next week
on Japan's most famous nicety: the Samurai.
  Today I'm going to review a movie I watched
recently, which deserves much noise made in its
honor. *fanfare* Samurai Fiction (1998)distributed by
Pony Canyon [which also takes charge of the recently
raved-about LM.C]. The film was the first full-length feature by director Nakano Hiroyuki, who was established as the director of music-videos for MTV Japan. This is apparent in particular scenes that are brief, but dreamlike and strange with no character movement or dialogue taking place, set under a dramatic music score.

  Samurai Fiction begins when the aloof swordsman
Kazamatsuri, warden of the ancestral sword of the Iga Clan, steals the sword and leaves the Clan. The Clan
head's young son (in the lovely passion of youth! The
daring days of youth! The reckless-- ok, we get it) gets
the uppity idea to chase after Kazamatsuri and retrieve
the sword. The rest of the film follows both men in their
clashes and reprieves.  

  The other area in which we see homage to the director's       
MTV-heritage is in the casting of musician Hotei Tomoyasu
in the villainous role of Kazamatsuri Rannosuke.
Hotei composed and performed the entire musical-score for the film,
and it was his acting debut. After Kagen No Tsuki, I've about had my
fill of 2-hour-long music video acting-debuts, but Samurai Fiction
soon revealed that I had nothing to worry about!
 The musical-score was quite awesome. Mainly rock with some heavy
guitar-wailing courtesy of our villain, paired quite nicely with some
taiko (Japanese drums) tracks where appropriate, and a few licks
in honor of Clint Eastwood's cowboy flicks.

  The film itself was an exceptionally awesome piece bowing
to famous Samurai productions such as the acclaimed Kurosawa's
masterpieces. The film, although shot in 1998, is done entirely
in classic black and white, except for some special situations.
Such as. There is no gore-- nope, not a spec of crimson blood
(and certainly no fountains exploding from graphically punctured
arteries). However, we are not entirely cheated! Whenever someone
is cut down by a masterful katana stroke, the screen flashes red,
and we shudder....punctured arteries exploding in our deep,
wounded conscious....

  The film is also intended to be a comedy. And honestly...
it's the first Japanese comedy I have ever watched and
actually laughed really really hard at! It was truly hilarious!
Many aspects of SF and lots of the characters (especially
the frantic young protagonist) were almost parodies of
the same movies that inspired it. And it is as skillfully
done as the finest episodes of School Rumble! (yes...
I did just pull that comparison out of no where...
actually it has nothing in common with School Rumble
except for its wild abandon in hilarity and awesomeness).
 

Samurai Fiction Preview

  The acting was great, and contrary to this wounded psychology's concerns around acting-debuts... It was actually Hotei's appearance on screen that caused much heightening of attentiveness-- his portrayal of the totally awesome, aloof, brimming-with-badass-ness was completely perfect, and you could totally expect him to draw his katana and have it do like Transformers and morph into super-sleek guitar and then everyone watching would start rocking out along with. Yeah. Like that.

  If you have any pride as a samurai-movie-lover, you will acquire this masterpiece ASAP and do not just yourself, but all of us, a huge favor. Both parody and tip of the hat to the great Samurai films of the century, Samurai Fiction is the perfect blend of comedy and action, and is perfectly acceptable to watch with your mom.

Gacktpause, over and out.  
  

    

 
 
 

 
     
 

LMC

Yes...finally I am freed from the enslaving obsession with NANA.
I'm not watching the anime or reading the manga anymore....which
means I get my life back. Not that it was a bad obsession or
anything! It just sort of took over my life, is all. And now that I
can actually justifiably count down the days until I leave for Japan,
I have to stop slacking off and get down to business. Maybe later.
There ate still computer troubles....oh they go on eternally. People
tell me "Oh, you have to shut it down every night when you're not
using it." But you know how much trouble it is? It takes like ten
minutes for my internet to kick off in the morning if I shut it down!
But I guess it's better than having it freeze halfway through whatever
I'm doing and have to restart and lose stuff..

So last week sometime I heard [Sentimental Piggy Romance] by LM.C.
If you recall, I was interested but not entirely sold. Well, I've been
listening to them a lot recently and watching a lot of PVs, in the hopes
of hearing something really good and seeing something really cool.
To say I'm sold is an understatement.

  I do this thing with people, too...Usually when I meet people I have a
"god they were obnoxious" or "they seemed really cool" experience.
More often than not I end up hating the people I originally thought
were cool, and actually end up really liking the ones I didn't like at first.
I often do this with bands, as well. When I find a band I just *love*
I usually get sick of it in a week, but bands I'm not so sure about....
usually become my favorites. :D So don't worry about trying to make
a good first-impression with me. Best to insult me and give me the cold-
shoulder. I find that really magnetic. But ANYway, fascinating as I'm sure
my warped psychology may be, let's get back on topic here...

  I think it was around when I heard "Oh My Juliet"  and "Cosmology".
Every time I would open iTunes on my computer I would go to the
store and browse LM.C without ever buying anything. I was just, y'know,
thinking about it. So finally the fateful day came... and I bought
 
GIMMICAL IMPACT~ LM.C

Two of my major complaints with some CDs these days are that 1: the
volume balance between music and vocals is slightly in the music's favor.
This shouldn't be. The other one is that 2: all the songs sound the same.
Most groups have a "signature" sound-- for example I can immediately
tell whether it's a Malice Mizer or an AnCafe song just by the guitar
riffs. This should be, after all we like these bands for a certain reason
(because we like their sound), and it's distracting and can be confusing
when a band changes their style too often (think song to song). But
sometimes they really do sound *exactly* the same.

  The first two things that immediately struck me about GIMMICAL IMPACT
was that the music-vocal balance was really nicely done, which is helped by the
fact that Maya has a really clear, distinguishable voice. It's not getting lost
anywhere. I really do like his voice-- it's quite striking and interesting (without
being strange at all).
  The other thing I noticed was that almost every song sounds really different.
Some songs are very electronicky, while others are more heavy-rock
in their use of effects and guitar. They even use spots of rap when they feel
like it, and actually pull it off.
The selection is really nicely balanced between the different styles
(so you're not stuck with too much of one kind), without it getting at all
distracted or overloaded. The pacing of the CD is well-done as well, without
any jarring transitions from melancholy or happy to heavy.
  Again, each song is really well done-- very interesting and different melodies,
both music and vocal-wise, which has you favoriting all of them and then
never having to change tracks unless you're bi-polar.
 
  Overall I think they have a great sound. It's really balanced, so I can't stop
describing them this way, haha. It's just hard to find good music, good vocals,
good variety, and cool vocal melodies and lyrics paired with a unique image.
They're like....cute....without being....cute. I think if you're a Jrock fan, you'll
understand this cryptic description. :D    
  On the topic of image: I think I originally described them as American-rock-influenced.
I spoke too soon, ahhhh....I spoke much too soon, shame on me. They're not really...
I mean, unless they claim to be-- in which case I would be redeemed, haha. I mean,
you could say they are, because they don't really do the whole "Harajuku look thing"
as I so articulately describe it. They're like... colorful. Wooooooo! Go me with my
awesome vocabulary! I think we can leave it at that, yeah....Let's do that.
So anyway, it's actually a breath of fresh air. Cool stuff.

I'm seriously going to have to consider buying Super Glitter Loud Box next....
ahhh, iTunes gift cards slip through my fingers like a handful of sand.... Thanks for
reading Secret Garden! As usual, comments and input are cool....So send me a message
or leave a comment anytime~ mata ne. ^__~    
 
 
 
  

So I finally finished the NANA series. Haha, it shouldn't
have taken over my life that way, but it did. I won't
give anything away, but the ending was absolutely evil
on the part of Yazawa Ai. The emotional trauma her
work has caused me...[lol]. I re-watched NANA: 2
and the way the ending for the movies was re-worked
made it almost happy-ish, but don't look for such a
melancholy but peaceful ending in the anime series.
It ended in typical fashion with everything still cast
about in a slew of desperation, pain, and sadness.
All the characters had rent great rifts between one another,
with little to no hope for freedom or recovery.
  As usual, there were a lot of loose-ends that didn't get tied up,
but we don't really care because it leaves a sense of mystery...
If they tied everything together, we wouldn't have to keep
obsessing even after the series is completely over. :-P 
  Oh, and I finally figured out who Anna Tsuchiya was reminding
me of in the 3 millionth OP [LUCY]..She sounded a lot
like the singer Sam Phillips. For some reason I thought
that was really weird. I liked the music written for
Nakashima Mika's live-action role better than the music
written for Anna Tsuchiya de anime, and in the same thread,
I prefer the music written for Olivia Lufkin de anime to the music
written for Ito Yuna in the live-action...So it's all backwards.
  Sometimes I wonder about these music-topic anime... The
reason that most of the early anime such as GUNDAM were made
was to sell action figures and merchandise (in much the same way
that all Disney and based-offa-book movies are made in the US today).
I think it'd be safe to say that probably the reason they make anime
out of series like NANA is to sell music.... Haha, I'm only half-serious...
But yes, I'm not completely joking, either. It's a completely probable
hypothesis.
 And going from there, I actually really liked the character of
Reira in the anime (she had a very miniscule and unimportant
role in the movies). She was really cute. ^^
  As far as the movies go, they did an awesome job of
casting the characters
(although the Shin from the second movie was profoundly
superior to the one cast in the first movie.)...And Ren
had a tiny role, and was really unimpressive all around.
The second Hachiko was OK, but kind of got on my nerves
after a while.

Nana the perfect cast!

Thanks for reading Secret Garden~ It'll be back to music soon, yakusoku shite yo! [I promise].  

To be honest...I've been convalescing this week,

Nakashima Mika as Nana Osaki

Yasu

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